the Prince and the Fox
by Suzy Wong
Summary: One his biggest wishes came true and now he can actually help the Prince. Though it's not as easy as he thought...SasuNaru, AU.
1. Prologue

**AN: **So here it is, the prologue of my story 'the Prince and the Fox'. For those of you who don't know, I wrote this story a couple of years ago and posted it under the name of 'Smex Lemur'. Unfortunately, I can no longer access that account anymore, so I decided to take the risk and post it on a different account. I will also be continuing all of my other fanfictions that I left unfinished.

I would L-O-V-E it if you would comment to see if there are people who would like to read more of this story. Thank you!

**The Prince And The Fox**

**Prologue**

**NARUTO POV**

I wish I could do something for the Prince.

The Prince always sits near the riverbank on a small and wooden dock, just staring at his own reflection. At first I thought he was vain and liked to look at his own reflection, but then I realized he didn't really _look_ _at_ himself. He just stared, he just spaced out. I don't know what he thinks about, but his eyes remind me of mine. Just as lonely.

He's handsome, at least I think he is. It's weird for someone like me to think a human is handsome, but he is. I like his black hair, eyes and his pale skin. Even though he always sits in the sun, it doesn't seem to affect him. He's like a creature of the night—slender, dark. Perhaps his looks were the thing that attracted me to him, that moved me to get closer to him each time I saw him, until I finally dared to sit right next to him on that dock.

I shake my head—no, that wasn't it. It was something else.

His eyes are empty, they're dull. Despite their beautiful black colour, his eyes reflect something I recognize. Yes, that's what attracted me—the loneliness I saw. I wanted to heal that.

I sometimes go over there and sit with him. He doesn't look at me, but he sometimes pets me and feeds me. He seems to be emotionless and just a body without a heart and mind. Then again, he is kind to me, even though he ignores me from time to time. But he never harms me or looks at me with hatred—I think there must be someone really nice hidden deep inside of him.

I really wish I could talk to him.

But I don't know if he needs me. There are a lot of human girls following him around and fawning over him, but he doesn't seem to notice them. I can understand that, I wouldn't really like it either, though it would be nice to have some people around. The others don't like me, because I enjoy the company of humans more, for some weird reason.

But I understand him. Despite all of those humans around him, he's still lonely, because he needs someone else to talk with him and be with him. I don't know who it is, but it has to be someone very special for him to acknowledge.

"Kitsune," he mutters as I sit next to him on the small wooden dock. It's near the palace—he always sneaks out of there to sit at this river. Usually a weird man with a mask comes to get him. I like the silence that we're always in though, it's somehow comfortable. My name isn't really Kitsune by the way, but how could he know? I can't introduce myself properly. I don't know his real name either, I just know that people call him 'Prince' or 'Your Highness'. I glance up at him, but he doesn't look back at me—he never does that. He always stares at the water, emotionless. Then again, I am only a fox. Why would he want to talk to me? It's not like I can talk back.

He lets out a sigh and stands up, brushing off his clothes and stuffing his hands in his pocket. I don't know how long he's been sitting here—I just arrived actually (I was out chasing some food), but it seems he's going back to the palace already. He always goes when the sun starts to set, I don't know why he does that. Sometimes he stays a bit longer.

"I forgot to bring you food," he mutters softly, giving me a small pat on the head. My ears perk up a bit and I look at him curiously. "I'll bring some tomorrow, Kitsune." With that, he leaves me again, sitting on the dock. I sigh—it's no fun being a fox.

I really wish I could help him, fix whatever it is that broke him. If I did that, I'd be happy and I think I would even be willing to die if I could help.

"_You want to help him?" _I perk my ears and look around. I could swear that I heard a voice. But I don't see anything, save for the fly that's buzzing around my head. Maybe he's the one who said that? But that's strange, not even I can understand what flies say—they usually seem to be saying nonsense. It might be just my imagination though.

"_It isn't, young Fox,"_ I look around again. I _know_ I heard something. Then an image suddenly appears over the river and I blink once. At first, I thought it was a giant fox and I was right. But he doesn't look like all others at all—this one has nine tails and is much, much bigger. He's almost as big as the palace, I think. And he looks very vicious, but maybe that's because he's bigger than the regular fox is—I don't know. _"I can make your wish come true," _he says to me. My wish?

"What do you want in return?" I ask him, narrowing my eyes. I know my species—they are very clever and shrewd. If I would accept something like this without asking what the catch is, I might be in big trouble. He cackles at me, the sound is deep and rumbles through the entire forest.

"_I do not need anything, what could a small fox like you offer me? I only need you to help the Prince to find his emotions again and. that you will heal his wounds." _

"What's in it for you?" I shoot back at him. The big fox narrows his eyes at me as well. "And who the hell are you anyway?"

"_I'm Kyuubi no Kitsune, a fox demon," _he replies, laughing again. _"I like your nerve, kit. There's nothing in it for me, besides repaying a debt I still owed the Uchiha clan. This way, my debt is repaid." _Uchiha? Is that the Prince's name? It's kind of weird.

"What makes you think I can help him?" I demand of him. He blinks once. This fox… I can see that he's really old. I know the stories about Kitsune's, since I asked the other foxes after the Prince started to call me that. I asked them what it meant and they began to tell me a lot of stories of these demons. This Kitsune's eyes hold a certain wisdom I've never seen before, as if he has been on the earth much longer than any other being.

"_You seem to want it. The Prince can't save himself, he needs someone else, and you are the only one who would give anything to help him—that is why I will make you human," _he tells me. My small heart pounds loudly. I can be a human? If this is a dream, I never want to wake up. _"But only for one spring can you be. If you have not healed him and shown him the love he needs, you will change back. I do not want to waste energy—if you don't succeed, I will just have to find someone else. Also, you cannot tell him your true feelings, nor that you were once a fox."_

"My true feelings?" I ask him, tilting my head in confusion. The fox laughs and from the sound, the earth itself actually shakes a little beneath my feet. Really, I had never seen anything like this before!

"_You'll understand." _I nod and let it slip, I was too excited—like he said, I'll understand.

"_Good," _the demon says. I blink at him once, wondering if I should kiss him or something to change. I shake my head quickly—I would do a lot of things for the Prince, but kissing a monstrous demon like Kyuubi isn't one of them. Yuck. Before I could ask any questions though, his tales start to shine and a red light surrounds him. He closes his eyes and I automatically close mine, due to the brightness of the light.

For a couple of seconds, we stay like that, until I hear him say, _"Open your eyes," _and I do so. My body feels weird.

"_Look at your reflection in the water,"_ I do again as I am told and look into the reflection. I let out a gasp—I really am human. My brand new blue eyes stare back at me and my blonde hair waves softly along with the wind. My skin is a lot more tanned than the Prince's and—oh my God—I have hands and feet and legs and arms. The only trace of me being a fox are the three marks on each of my cheeks, which look a little bit like whiskers. I'm speechless—this was my wish.

And I'm also cold. I tell Kyuubi that, who laughs in return.

"_There are many disadvantages when you're a human and you'll have to learn to adapt. You need clothes to keep yourself warm, because you now have no fur anymore, but I'm sure the advantages of a human outweighs all of that, right?"_ I nod eagerly, the little fur on my head waving along with it. I crouch a bit nearer to the fox.

"Thanks!" I say excitedly, my new voice ringing through the forest. I can actually talk to the Prince! I can't believe my dream has actually come true. "What do I do next?" I ask of him and he laughs in return, shaking his head.

"_I've done enough for you, kit, you're on your own now. I'll see you again four months from now—don't disappoint me, kit. I might just eat you." _And with that, he disappears from me again, the last few words ringing through my head.

"I _knew_ there was a catch!" I yell triumphantly.


	2. Chapter 1

**AN:** First chapter of the story. More to follow either today or tomorrow!

**Disclaimer: **Forgot to put this up until now. Naruto does not belong to me.

**Chapter 1: Nude**

Prince Sasuke walked through the forest, hands stuffed in his pockets and head lowered to look at the ground. It was pretty cold for the first day of spring, but Sasuke had never really cared too much for the cold. He preferred it, in fact. He went to the river almost everyday now. To think, to remember—he lived in the past still. He still lived in the time where his mother and father would talk to him, where his big brother would play and train with him.

He still lived in the time where they were all murdered.

He didn't let people be close to him, save for a small fox who would always sit next to him on the small dock. It was an odd creature—most foxes weren't tame, but this one always came to him on his own, whether he had food for him or not. Sasuke let a small smile on his face—he remembered the offended look the fox gave him yesterday, when he declared he hadn't brought any food.

Almost as if it could understand him… odd.

Sasuke didn't really mind the company, how could he? Most people annoyed him by talking to him and the fox obviously couldn't do this. Sure, the creature could be a little annoying by forcing itself on his lap to get pet, or by biting on Sasuke's clothes for some attention, but he didn't really mind.

On one or two occasions, Sasuke had contemplated whether or not he could take the fox with him to the castle.

Sasuke stopped in his tracks when he arrived at the dock that afternoon. There was something lying on it—something with tanned skin and blonde hair. Something _naked_. Perhaps it was dead? The thing didn't look up when he arrived—then again, Sasuke usually was rather quiet.

He raised an eyebrow as he approached the thing carefully. He crouched besides it and turned it around, only to find a boy about his age blinking up at him sheepishly. Sasuke gasped when he saw his face—this boy was gorgeous. He particularly liked his big blue eyes and those strange whisker-like marks on each side of his cheek.

The boy shivered and Sasuke could see goose bumps forming themselves on his skin, which wasn't really surprising—it was rather cold and lying in the nude right besides a river wasn't the smartest thing to do.

He reminded him of something… a fox? Sasuke shook his head at the thought.

"Uh, hi?" the boy said, sitting up straight and scratching the back of his head. "Eh, what time is it?" Sasuke looked at him with an expression that said 'Are you kidding me?'. Apparently, he wasn't. This boy didn't even seem to know who he was.

"Hn," Sasuke said, stood up and brushed off his clothes. He didn't have time to talk to peasants like him… especially peasants who didn't even wear _clothes_. Not that he wasn't enjoying the sight or anything, but still. The boy blinked again.

"Not very talkative are you? Guess I should've seen that coming," he muttered more to himself than Sasuke, who had now raised both his eyebrows. "I'm Naruto by the way!" he said, grinning. He stood up, wobbling a bit as he did so (Naruto's excuse for that later on was that 'walking on two legs is harder than it looks!') and stuck out his hand.

Sasuke didn't take it.

He instead turned around and walked back to the castle. He had loved the dock and the river because of its peace and quiet, but now that this boy was here, he knew he wouldn't get any of that.

"H—hey! Bastard, get back here!" the boy said, running after him. But as soon as he was within reach of Sasuke, he fell to the ground. The Prince turned around when he heard the loud 'thump' and saw the boy lying on the ground unconscious, followed by a very loud, rumbling sound coming from his stomach.

Sasuke uncharacteristically sweatdropped.

"That idiot," he muttered. "Hasn't he eaten anything or something?" Of course he hadn't.

He was a fox and foxes were scavengers. But now that he had a human body, it was much harder for him and so he couldn't find himself any food. However, Sasuke doesn't know that, of course.

Sasuke looked around, contemplating whether or not he should take the boy with him. He couldn't just leave him lying there, right? Naruto's stomach rumbled again, this time followed by a loud snore coming from his mouth.

Sasuke stared.

This guy was a wonder when it came to body-noises. He sighed and ran a hand through his black hair, his bangs falling in his eyes again as soon as his hand had passed them. He grunted reluctantly, before pulling off his shirt (AN: -droooool-) and lying it over the boy. At least that kept him from growing cold just a little bit.

He then proceeded to hoist him up on his back and carry him all the way to the castle. It wasn't exactly a long walk, but when you had another boy on your back who was heavier than you, it did seem like it.

He mentally wondered why the hell he was even doing this. He didn't know this boy and it was obvious this Naruto person was some poor, homeless person, someone who wasn't even worth his time. So why was he doing this?

He shrugged it off. In any case, he would only feed this boy and perhaps give him a set of clothes and would send him away again. He had no need for unnecessary people like him, especially one who is such a moron. Besides that, he has way too much energy for Sasuke's taste.

Then again, he is beautiful… perhaps he could keep him? It was odd—Sasuke had never found himself being attracted to anyone before.

Arriving at the castle, Sasuke was questioned by many people again, wondering where he went everyday and _why_ and if he was alright. Sasuke never answered these useless questions, save for a glare—Kakashi, his teacher, was the only one who knew and was the only one who was _allowed_ to know. Kakashi was one of those few people he didn't really mind having around and was also his guardian until he would turn eighteen and could claim the throne.

"Ah, Sasuke," said guardian said, raising two fingers as a greeting. Kakashi wasn't very respectful towards him, but that was alright—his father and him had been very good friends. "What do you have here? Since when do you start molesting innocent boys? And why didn't you call me?" Sasuke blushed furiously and shoved the naked boy in Kakashi's arms. "Ah, I can have a go—"

"No, you may not," Sasuke hissed, wishing his guardian would just keep his bloody voice down. All the servants and guards and whatnot were staring at them, some with blushes on their faces, some looking disgusted and some looking rather amused. "Bring him to one of the guest bedrooms, once he wakes up feed him and clothe him." Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"And what do I do with him afterwards?" he questioned. Sasuke shrugged.

"Haven't decided yet," he muttered.

"You gonna keep him?" He received an indecisive shrug once more, before the younger boy strode off from the courtyard and went inside the palace, walking directly to his room. He needed some time to think.

--

Kakashi put down the blonde boy on the bed with his eyebrows still raised. It wasn't like Sasuke to bring home nude boys (though the silver-haired guardian couldn't exactly complain). He rarely showed any emotion at all, but, then again, Sasuke hadn't shown any emotion when he brought this boy in either—save for embarrassment.

A loud snore escaped the blonde boy's mouth and Kakashi chuckled softly. Even when asleep, Kakashi could read this boy easily—energetic, happy and maybe a little less bright than Sasuke was. The man vaguely wondered if that was why the Prince had brought him home. But then again, Sasuke didn't really like energetic and happy, huh? Nor did he like idiocy…

Kakashi shrugged and smiled a bit. The boy let out a loud snore again, rolling off the bed as he did so.

"Huh?" the boy's eyes opened slowly, blinking in confusion as he took a glance around. "Ah! Where the hell am I?" He looked around frantically, before his eyes, believe it or not, rested upon his hands and his eyes widened. "What the—Where the hell are my—?" he stopped yelling suddenly. "Oh, right," he then muttered, as if he remembered something. His eyes scanned the room, before they rested on Kakashi, who looked at him with mild amusement and curiosity. "Who are you?" he asked. He knew the man, of course, but not really his name. He was the man with the mask, the one who always came to the river to take away the Prince.

"Hatake Kakashi," he bowed. "I have some clothes for you," he gestured to the white button-up shirt and dark green pants lying on the chair next to the bed Naruto had been lying on. Naruto tried to remember what clothes were—humans put them on their bodies, right? Because they have no fur?

He eyed the clothes and tried to remember the Prince's. The thing with the two tube-like things would go on his legs, and the other one around his upper-body. He grinned triumphantly, pleased with himself that he was able to figure it out on his own, and put them on. He was annoyed when the pants kept falling off and when the shirt didn't want to close properly—honestly, humans couldn't do anything right!

That man—Kakashi—wasn't helping either. He was actually laughing at him.

"Let me help you," he finally offered, after Naruto's fifth try. "You're not used to clothes?" he asked, as he pulled up Naruto's pants and closed the button. The blonde boy shook his head. "Look, see this?" he pointed at the button. "You put it through that small hole on the other side and then it stays, okay? Try it with your shirt." Naruto did as he was told and found it to be very easy.

Ok, so maybe humans could do something right.

"My name is Naruto," he then stuck out his hand. Kakashi chuckled and shook it. Naruto grinned to himself—good, this human did shake his hand. Some of the other foxes had once told him that humans always shake hands when they meet and he had begun to doubt that little fact when Sasuke hadn't took it when he introduced himself.

"Please stay here while I get your food, Naruto," Kakashi said and walked out the room. Naruto had only heard 'bla bla bla FOOD' and so was waiting with anticipation for it—he hadn't eaten since he had been turned into a human and was very, _very_ hungry.

He looked around his room and decided to go lay down on the big thing in the middle—the bed. Foxes had told him all kinds of stories about humans when he asked for them and so he knew most things, what a lot of things were called and how to use them. Naruto had always been fascinated by humans.

He then grinned to himself—if the masked man was here, then that meant the Prince was here too, right? Maybe he was even in the castle!

Having that thought, he immediately jumped off the bed and walked to the large window at the other side of his room. He looked through it and could see the entire human city, Konoha, as well as a big open area made from stone. If he looked to his right, he could see the forest he had been living in until now and also the river and, if he really, really squinted his eyes, he could see the dock where he and the Prince had met.

Naruto saw towers standing close by and guards near the front gate and servants and horses and all kinds of other things—he couldn't believe that this was really happening. He had also met the Prince, if he remembered correctly and had also spoken to him!

… That thought made Naruto frown.

The Prince had been very cold towards him and arrogant. Naruto knew there was something cold about the Prince, but it was slightly irritating—especially the way the Prince had simply ignored him. But, how did he get here anyway? All he remembered was seeing the Prince walk away from him.

"Here's your food, Naruto," Kakashi entered the room again and placed a tray filled with food on the table in the middle of the room. Naruto eagerly bounced towards it and sat down, shoving the food in. Most of it, he had never even seen before but it all tasted so damn _good_. Humans sure knew how to cook!

"How did I get here?" he asked between bites. He didn't notice the expression on Kakashi's face (since he was too busy stuffing food in his mouth), who had his eyebrows raised, torn between disgust and amusement. If the boy was staying here, he should learn some manners first.

"I don't know the details," Kakashi admitted. "I only know that Prince Sasuke showed up with you on his back." Naruto blushed involuntarily. Was Sasuke his real name? It was very nice and if it really was his name, that meant the Prince really did take him to the castle with him, did that meant Naruto could stay? Before Naruto could ask more questions, there was a soft knock on the door. "Yes?" The door opened and showed a girl.

"Excuse me, but His Highness requests our guest's presence," she said shyly, looking at Naruto. Said boy blinked.

"Thank you, I will take Naruto to him right now," Kakashi answered. The girl nodded and gave a short curtsy, before closing the door and taking her leave. "Finish that," the silver-haired man said, nodding at the food on Naruto's plate. "After that, we'll go see the Prince."

Naruto swallowed nervously—would the Prince actually talk to him this time?

He really hoped so.


	3. Chapter 2

**AN: **Second chapter. Thanks everyone for reviewing!

**The Prince And The Fox**

**Chapter 2: Ah, fair Fox! Thou must serve!**

Naruto walked behind Kakashi curiously, looking around at all the things he had never even seen before. He didn't know what half of the things were inside the castle—there were weird pictures with humans on them (Naruto had tried poking them, but found out they weren't real. Kakashi had called them paintings), flowers that were stuck in jars and the ground underneath him was red. When Naruto had questioned about that, Kakashi had merely chuckled as if he had been a small child asking a ridiculous question (which, in Kakashi's eyes, it was) and had said that the red floor was called a carpet.

There weren't many windows, at least not in the corridors of the castle—to be honest, Naruto thought the atmosphere was kind of depressing. Then again, the Prince—now known to Naruto as 'Sasuke'—had been depressed as well, so perhaps it rubbed off on the castle? Or maybe the other way around. Naruto couldn't be sure.

They halted in front of a big wooden door, where Kakashi turned around to face Naruto. "Well, here we are, Naru-chan," he said cheerfully. Naruto cocked his head in confusion—Naru-chan? "Knock on the door first and wait until Prince Sasuke says you can go inside, 'kay?" Naruto nodded. "Good, I'll leave you here then." Kakashi gave him a small bow, a wave and then hurried off. The blonde boy looked at him with raised eyebrows, muttering something about 'crazy humans', before knocking on the door. There was a brief moment of silence.

"Come in," a muffled voice said and Naruto opened the door, heart beating rapidly in his chest. He closed the door behind himself and scanned the room—it was much bigger, twice as big he guessed, than the room he had been. There was a very big bed near a large window, a lot of comfy looking chairs, carpets and paintings. His eyes rested on Sasuke, who was sitting in a chair near the window, with an odd square-like-thing on his lap, looking at him intently. Naruto shivered under the cold gaze—it was weird. When he had been a fox, Sasuke's eyes would look at him with much more warmth in them.

"What's that?" The blonde finally asked after a long moment of silence, pointing at the square-like-thing on Sasuke's lap. Sasuke looked at him as if he had lost his mind.

"It's a book," he merely said. Naruto raised an eyebrow. A book? He had never heard of that.

"What's a book?" he walked over to Sasuke, who looked a little surprised at the insolence of this boy, and took it out of Sasuke's hands, eyeing it. There were strange things on it and Naruto couldn't really make out what they were. Sasuke stood up and grabbed it back.

"A book is something that tells a story," he said, finding it the most simple explanation for it. Naruto tilted his head a bit.

"Really? I didn't hear anything," Sasuke resisted the urge to smack his hand against his forehead. How could this person not know what a book was? Was he really that stupid? "Anyway Sasuke, why did you want to see me?" he asked him. Sasuke gritted his teeth.

"It's either 'Prince Sasuke' or 'Your Majesty' for you… dobe," he said, narrowing his eyes. He did _not_ like this boy's attitude.

"Why? Your name is Sasuke, isn't it? And what does 'dobe' mean? Kakashi said 'Naru-chan' to me too, but I don't know what that means either. Is it like a nickname?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the mentioning of Kakashi calling him Naru-chan—that perverted old man had no right to call him that. He smirked when he saw the confused look on the blonde's face. The boy, despite his idiocy, definitely was rather cute. Especially in those clothes—they were slightly too big on him and hung loosely on his body. The shirt showed a big part of his neck and a small part of his tanned chest.

"Yes, it's like a nickname," he said. Naruto perked up a bit, before he grabbed the book from Sasuke and opening it, curiously looking inside. "I called you here to ask you a few…" his words drifted away when he saw Naruto _sniffing_ the book. "What are you doing?" Naruto looked up, blinking.

"Eh?" Sasuke shook his head and took the book back again.

"Never mind. I wanted to ask you a few—_Pay attention!_" Sasuke growled, seeing Naruto bouncing across the room while he was speaking. The blonde boy _tried_ to focus, but he couldn't help it—humans had such a different world! He wanted to know much more about them. Naruto turned around and grinned sheepishly at him, while scratching the back of his head. "Where are you from?" The blonde thought for a moment. Now, what did Kyuubi say again? He couldn't tell Sasuke what he really was, right? And something about not being able to tell his true feelings… whatever that meant. Or else he would get turned back into a fox. Well, he didn't want that to happen! Some of the foxes had taught him a bit about cities—now, what did they say again?

"I'm from… Suna," he finally said. Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"The city in the desert? You came all the way from there?" Naruto nodded his head quickly. Sasuke for some reason found it hard to believe, considering the way the blonde guiltily looked away.

"What were you doing here then?"

"I… was looking for a job?" He grinned sheepishly at him. Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"Naked?" Naruto blinked for a moment. That's right, humans normally wore clothes, right? Damn, what the hell was he supposed to say now? "Never mind," Sasuke said, shaking his head when he noticed the lost look on Naruto's face. This boy was so easy to read, it made him sick. "You can stay here in the castle—" he didn't get a chance to say anything more.

"Yatta!" Naruto exclaimed loudly, throwing his hands in the air and bouncing through the room, before he threw himself in Sasuke's arms. "Thanks, Sasuke!" he said, grinning.

The Prince's mind went blank. No one had ever, _ever_ hugged him. Not since his parents—

He quickly shook his head to get rid of that awful thought and focused back on Naruto, who had detached himself from Sasuke and instead opted to jump around. The Prince wondered vaguely why the blonde was so happy to stay—had it been his plan, or something? He shook his head—nah, idiots like him didn't have any plans. He probably got mugged in town and had been dumped by the river or something. Things like that sometimes happened.

He first wanted to keep the blonde as a servant in the castle. He would get paid a very small amount of money and would get to live in the castle, provided that he would serve, of course. But now… talking with the idiot was rather nice, he noticed. The blonde was interesting and didn't seem to know much about anything. Besides that, Sasuke hated mysteries. He wanted to find out what in the world Naruto was.

"Dobe, shut up," Sasuke snapped. Naruto did as he was told, though grumbled a bit. "In exchange, you'll be my personal servant, which means you work for me and for me only. You don't have to listen to anyone else, besides me and you will follow me every day. If you don't abide by these rules, I will have you punished. Understood?" Naruto was taken slightly aback by the harsh and cold tone, but nodded. He knew the Prince wasn't the most warm person, but did he have to snap like that? He was beginning to think this was a big mistake… if it hadn't been for the fact that he got to learn so many things about humans, he would've returned to the forest immediately.

Kakashi seemed civil enough though.

"Good, you start tonight. There will be a banquet, so you did come at a good time. Ask Kakashi for further information, you may leave," Sasuke said and waved towards the door. Naruto stared for a moment. "Well?" he asked him, with a raised eyebrow. Naruto childishly stuck his tongue out, before hurrying towards the door and slamming it shut.

Sasuke stared after him, torn between amusement and annoyance.

--

Naruto glanced around the corridor, wondering which way he should go. The Prince-Bastard said something about Kakashi and that he should find him, but where the devil could he find a suspicious masked man with silver-ish hair?

Maybe he should ask? Good thinking Naruto.

"Eh, excuse me?" he said politely to one of the female servants dusting something. The girl looked at him, a slightly snobbish expression on her face. "Do you know where I can find Kakashi?" The girl blinked, before she looked really annoyed.

"That pervert? He's probably reading some of his perverted books by now!" she exclaimed, making Naruto cock his head. "Go to the second floor, second door to your right. He's probably with his boyfriend." Again, Naruto became confused.

Perverted books? They had perverted books? Did that mean—Naruto blushed slightly.

"Thanks," he muttered to the girl, who didn't bother to reply.

--

An hour later, Naruto found himself wondering why he was getting dressed up like this. It was all the idea of a man named Iruka—apparently, he was the boyfriend the girl from before had been talking about. Kakashi was looking at them with mild amusement, especially when Naruto would get irritated.

"Doesn't he look cute?" he said, grinning a bit. Naruto scowled at him—he did not like being called 'cute'. Kakashi nodded, before pulling Iruka onto his lap and holding him there. The scarred-man blushed a little. "Still, don't you think it's weird for His Highness to actually make him his personal servant? He's never really taken a liking into anyone," Iruka mused.

"Mhm," Kakashi muttered.

"He's never had a personal servant before?" Naruto questioned them. "And why is he such a bastard anyway? He acts like he's better than everyone else!" Iruka gasped softly—this kid really did have some nerve to be calling the Prince that. Kakashi merely chuckled.

"Some things… happened in his past, that you don't need to know. I'm actually surprised you don't know about his history," he said thoughtfully. "Anyway, he's had them before, but none of them really lasted long enough since they got on his nerves." Iruka smacked his boyfriend, making Naruto wince. Humans sure were violent… "Ouch! What did I do?" he pouted.

"Naruto shouldn't be calling the Prince a bastard!" Iruka scolded, narrowing his eyes at Naruto. "He could be severely punished for that. I do hope you didn't call him that in his presence." The blonde pondered for a moment.

"No, but I did hug him and said 'Sasuke', he didn't seem to like that though," he said nonchalantly. Iruka gasped. "Oh! And I stuck my tongue out at him." Iruka gasped some more.

"You _hugged_ him and you're still _alive_?" he looked at Kakashi. "That's amazing!" Naruto looked a bit surprised and confused—was it really such a big deal? "Has he ever let someone hug him?" Iruka questioned Kakashi.

"Besides his mother? No. He never lets anybody even _touch _him," he replied, shrugging. Iruka smiled fondly.

"Maybe he's finally opening up a bit more," he suggested. "Ah, but Naruto," he turned to the blonde boy in question, who tilted his head a bit. "We should teach you the do's and don't's for tonight's banquet. If you do things like that when other royalties are around… well, I don't know if you'll get away with it that easily. So let's get started!" Iruka chirped cheerfully.

Naruto grinned—this Iruka-guy was really nice. He was really helping him! And not because he had to, but because he wanted to do.

The blonde sighed happily… it was like he found a family, even though he had been there for only one day.


End file.
